1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to a control system for vehicles, and more particularly to an automatic engine stop control and an automatic engine restart control for vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission.
2. Background Art
Idle-stop systems for automotive vehicles are known which work to automatically stop an engine when given automatic stop conditions are met while the vehicle is in motion or automatically restart the engine when given automatic restart conditions are met after the engine is stopped automatically. Automatic engine stop systems for automotive vehicles are also proposed which are engineered to control an automatic engine stop on an uphill road in view of the fact that when the engine is automatically stopped on the uphill, it may cause the vehicle to roll back following release of a brake upon restart of the engine. For instance, Japanese Patent First Publication No. 2006-307866 teaches an automatic engine stop system which is designed to measure the gradient of a road on which the vehicle is now running and inhibit the engine from being stopped automatically when the gradient of the road is greater than a given value.
The above automatic engine stop system, however, faces the following drawback. The driver of the vehicle may intend to stop the engine when the vehicle is running on the uphill road whose inclination is greater than the given value. In such a case, when the automatic engine stop system inhibits the engine from being stopped, the engine will continue to run against the driver's will. This decreases the number of times the engine is stopped in the idle-stop control mode and, thus, results in a deterioration of saving fuel in the engine.